Customer Reviews
Great Multi-Device Charger
I originally got the Touchcharge kit for the Wii and Xbox 360 and loved it. (It also works for ps3 apparently.)
http://www.amazon.com/Touchcharge-Kit-Nintendo-Wii/dp/B001TEQKNC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1255376618&sr=8-2
I have since gotten it for my phone and my girlfriend's. Now, I charge my xbox 360 controllers, Wii controllers, and both our phones all on the same pad.
I would recommend this product to anyone who is tired of having to dig around for their chargers or having to dig under a desk to find the cable that inevitably falls behind.
Good idea - I guess!? But, is it necessary?
I was given the opportunity to review this item and I looked forward to it.
I thought that anything that reduces the clutter of a million power cords can't be bad. And certainly, this is not a bad product at all. It just lacks good execution.
Pros:
1. Design: nice looking design to be sure. Fairly compact (about 7 inches across by 4 5 inches wide), plus a power cord and a small blue power light. This item turns off the power when you place your hand on it, so no worries bout getting a zap of juice at all.
2. Size: You can place four items on the grid, which makes it ideal for a family to power their devices if you have the right tips (more on that under cons), so it is a space saver.
3. Coolness: this item ranks pretty high on the coolness factor. It is a great idea always to get rid of a million different cords, but....
Neutral:
1. Cost: this item costs a significant amount of money. I guess my question is why I would fork over a chunk of money to reduce clutter... money versus clutter... I think money may win out for me on this one. Plus, if I upgrade my phone, I have to go and buy another tip.
2. Travel: this item is large enough the travel is not necessarily made convenient by having this item. This is one downside of this item.
Cons:
1. Tips: You have to have the right tip to insert into your phone, headset, etc. to attach it to the magnet provided so you can get juice to your device from the grid. On the model I was provided, I was given tips for Blackberry devices and Nokia, but not the Blackberry mini USB. Thus, I couldn't really use the item without purchasing the correct tips for each device including one for the Blackberry Curve and and IPhone. This is another significant cost, and again the question is whether I want to spend money to save some clutter. I am not really sure many people will want to incur a significant cost to save some clutter for different cords when this is intended for home. Plus, you will be provided with the cords for home use already when you purchase the product.
Overall this is a GREAT idea. it is just that asking someone to spend a good deal of money (it is more expensive than some of the phones your powering) is not a good design strategy. Great idea, poor execution. It is just okay.
Convenient tool...with an ugly design
Let me begin by saying who I believe should buy a charging pad such as this one: if you have multiple cell phones that you would like to charge, or if you are very tired of having to go search for your ordinary plug-in charger and then fiddling to plug that into your phone. Also, this particular kit only works for owners of Motorola, Nokia and Blackberry phones. Users of any other brands can forget about this as chances are high that the right charging plug is not included. iPhone users, do know that according to Duracell's website an iPhone version of this pad is supposed to be out in Spring 2010.
So what is this product? The Duracell myGrid charging system basically allows you to place your cell phone on a mat to charge instantly, without having to fiddle around for a charging cord. Many similar charging systems that are now out use a physics concept called induction to charge the phone, where there are no exposed metal contacts on either the charging pad or the phone. The Duracell myGrid is NOT one of these chargers, however. Probably in the interest of cheaper costs, Duracell chose to use the older, very common concept of conduction where metal contacts on the phone and charger conduct charges.
So what does that mean? It means that the myGrid charging pad is actually one large pad with a large metal surface area. When turned on, this large metal area IS energized with electric charges. At first glance, you might think that you can shock yourself by touching the pad. Nothing to fear folks, as the electricity flowing through the pad is too weak to create any noticeable shocks. And to add peace of mind, if the pad detects your finger or anything else that conducts electricity (like keys, jewelry, etc.) to be touching the pad, then it shuts off the current.
How do you use it? To get the juices flowing into your phone, Duracell includes a special "clip" that has three tiny metal contacts on the bottom. You are supposed to stick on the "clip" with the included adhesive to your phone. The clip then connects to a charging plug which is inserted into your phone's charging port. That completes the setup. To actually charge, just place the phone on the pad with the clip in contact.
What are the flaws? Well, the charger still works if you don't 'stick' the clip to your phone. Instead, the catch is that you'll have to be careful when taking your phone off the pad. The clip is literally a magnet that sticks on to the pad, so you'll then have to exert careful pressure to remove the phone+clip from the pad. I think that's a bad design aspect in that if you were ever to switch phones, you would have to attempt to peel off the clip from your old phone and stick it on to your new one. Also, if you did stick on the clip, then you have an ugly and oddly-shaped piece of plastic stuck on to your phone for most of the day. It can get in the way of your hand gripping the phone, you can't exactly use many cases with the phone, and it just looks odd. Oh, and personally I think the pad just looks plain ugly. The whole metal pad with its black and chrome trim seems like something Doc Brown would've had in his DeLorean back in the 80s.
What could be improved? I think Duracell should do what other manufacturers of similar charging pads are doing and creating sleeves where the phone can be kept in a sleek-looking sleeve all-day that can do double-duty as a nice case. In fact, they seem to be doing this. The iPhone charging system that I mentioned earlier is on their website seems to have this very sleeve. Now if they were smart and brought it to the other brands as well.
Also, this product is being marketed and designed for cell phones only. If Duracell could find a way, I would like be able to charge my other devices on the pad, like my bluetooth headset, PS3 controller, iPod, etc. If a wide-variety of devices could be charged all using this one pad, then I would say the myGrid is guaranteed to be a hit! At the moment though, for just a few cell phone models I am not surprised to see the naysayers here on Amazon shooting down this gadget.
Overall, it's a gadget that is meant purely for convenience sake. If the clip design were improved (and maybe the overall pad design was more sleeker), then this pad can be a big seller.
